Made up

I think I started wearing makeup in the 8th grade. I don't remember if I wore foundation or lip gloss or mascara. What I do remember is the cobalt blue eyeliner. I liked it because I thought it brought out the blue in my eyes.

In high school, I wore make up daily. As the oldest daughter of a woman who didn't really wear makeup, I didn't have anyone to teach me how to wear makeup. I think I just kind of figured it out (or made it up) as I went along. High school was when I really started wearing foundation. I had to so I could hide the embarrassing hairs that had begun growing out of my chin.

And of course in college, makeup was a must -- even on days when I wore pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt to class.

I'm not sure when it was that I stopped wearing makeup. When I stayed home with my kids when they were little, I would stay au naturel on days we actually stayed at home. But if we went to church or the grocery store or the park, I put my face on.

I know that when I went back to work almost five years ago, I went back wearing makeup. My sister sells Mary Kay and I'm sure that I was well-outfitted with foundation, blush, eyeliner, lip liner (people still wore it then, I'm sure), mascara and maybe even some eyeshadow.

Exactly when I quit wearing makeup, I'm not sure. Maybe in the last two or three years. I recall that the first few times I went to work without a trace of "paint" on my face, I was very self-conscious, apologetic even, about my untouched appearance. I didn't go cold turkey. On most days I wore makeup. But from time to time, if I was running late or had misplaced my makeup bag, I'd go without. Eventually, I quit being self-conscious about it and I quit wearing makeup all together.

Once in a while, for a special occasion I'd put my face on. But it had to be really special. Like a wedding or the Go Red for Women fashion show.

For some reason, last Friday on the way to my aerial acrobatic adventure, I looked in the mirror and thought "I wish I'd put on some makeup." Something about the way my lips blended in with my skin, which was pale even though I'd not yet gone upside 30,000 feet over Lake Michigan, made me think a little color would be nice.

So when I met up with some college friends that night, I got real wild and wore, gasp!, lip gloss! By Saturday morning, I was back to sporting the "organic" look. Same for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Wednesday, when I got dressed, the dry cracks in my heels were killing me. So I slathered on the Heeltastic and put on socks and tennies. You can't exactly wear something nice with socks and tennies, so I chose a pair of khaki capris and turquoise v-neck t-shirt.

When I dropped the kids off at the babysitter's, her mom said "Oh, you're not going into the office today?" I guess that I did look a little bit like I was ready for a day of garage saling. A few hours later, at the office, I was sitting in a meeting with four other women. I looked around and noticed, "everyone at this table is wearing makeup...except me."

I didn't think about it again until this morning. Unlike the past 500 or so days, today, I thought I'd wear some makeup. Of course I had to go out in the garage to find the bag of random stuff I cleaned out of the Pilot when we sold it nearly a month ago. That's where my Mary Kay tinted moisturizer was.

To finish the rest of my face, I had to find Annie's makeup bag. Good thing I have a teenage daughter or I would have been out of luck!

I thought I might feel instantly transformed once my face was done. But I didn't. I was pleased with the results, though. It was Mike's day off, so he was spending the day with the kids and he noticed. When I got to work, one of my co-workers said "You look really nice" and then an hour or so later said, "You're wearing makeup!"

I considered putting a picture of the made up me in this post. But the point isn't how I looked. It's how I felt. And today, I felt like wearing makeup. And I'll probably wear it again. Maybe even tomorrow. Probably not every day. But whenever the mood strikes.